JOSTEIN EIKELAND

“North-south divide threatens Germany’s renewable energy highway”

It was conceived as a plan to draw Germany together, a 500-mil(800km) energy highway that would link the gale-beaten windfarms of the north with the energy-hungry south. But with resistance growing in Bavaria, the project looks more likely to divide the country that unite it. Renewables produced almost 25% of Germany’s energy in 2013. But production is uneven and expected to get even more so: while windfarms in the northern flatlands are forecast to eventually outstrip the area’s power needs, the highly industrialised south is still heavily reliant on nuclear energy.